High efficiency energy recovery core for ventilation

ABSTRACT

An energy recovery device includes a first fluid path extending between a fresh air inlet and a fresh air outlet, and a second fluid path extending between an exhaust inlet and an exhaust air outlet. The first fluid path and the second fluid path may direct flow in a direction that is substantially parallel to one another through at least part of the energy recovery device. In some cases, a bend may be provided in at least part of the energy recovery device such that the first fluid path directs flow in a direction that is at a first angle relative to fluid flow through the second fluid path for a first portion of the first fluid path, and in a direction that is at a second angle relative to fluid flow through the second fluid path for a second portion of the first fluid path.

This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application Number201110032500.X, which was filed Jan. 30, 2011, and which is incorporatedherein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to ventilation equipment, and inparticular, to an energy recovery device for ventilation equipment.

BACKGROUND

As people are paying more attention to the air quality, there is a needfor ventilation equipment that provides fresh air-flow. Such ventilationequipment often employs an energy recovery device to achieve thecomplete heat exchange between a fresh air-flow and an exhaust air-flow,thus fresh air-flow can be achieved while making use of the energy fromthe exhaust air-flow, so that a fresh air-flow of a higher quality canbe provided to users.

For example, in International Publication No. WO2009090395, an energyrecovery device is disclosed, which includes an exhaust air-flow inlet,an exhaust air-flow outlet in fluid communication with the exhaustair-flow inlet via a first duct, a fresh air-flow inlet, and a freshair-flow outlet in fluid communication with the fresh air-flow inlet viaa second duct. However, this international patent application does notdisclose the specific construction of the energy recovery device.

An energy recovery device in the prior art has a feature that by meansof a “X” configuration or a “S” configuration, the direction of freshair-flow and the direction of exhaust air-flow are crossed. The energyrecovery device with such a configuration increases the height or lengthof the ventilation equipment, thus increasing the costs of theventilation equipment. At the same time, this energy recovery device inthe prior art only provides slots and projections for sealing at itsinlet side/outlet side, which increases the risk of mixing the freshair-flow with the exhaust air-flow, and reduces the quality of freshair-flow. Furthermore, the counter-flow energy exchanging portion of theenergy recovery device in the prior art is provided with ducts, whichare parallel to one another and equal in length and in distancetherebetween, so as to form laminar flow and to enable the pressure dropin each of the ducts to remain balanced without the need to consider thedifferences in inlet angles, outlet angles, pressures and speeds, butthis reduces the efficiency of the energy exchange.

SUMMARY

An object of the present invention is to provide a novel energy recoverydevice with low costs, high efficiency to address the disadvantages inthe prior art.

In an illustrative embodiment, an energy recovery device is providedthat may include at least two frames which are adjacently arranged,wherein said at least two frames comprise fresh air-flow and exhaustair-flow frames, wherein the fresh air-flow frame comprises freshair-flow frame rods and a plurality of fresh air-flow ducts arrangedtherein, with each fresh air-flow duct has a fresh air-flow duct inlet,a fresh air-flow duct outlet, and a bend section of the fresh air-flowduct for connecting them; the exhaust air-flow frame may include exhaustair-flow frame rods and a plurality of exhaust air-flow ducts arrangedtherein, with each exhaust air-flow duct having an exhaust air-flowinlet, an exhaust air-flow outlet, and a bend section of the exhaustair-flow duct for connecting them. The plurality of fresh air-flow ductsand the plurality of exhaust air-flow ducts may be in a mirror imagearrangement such that the fresh air-flow duct inlets and exhaustair-flow duct outlets are located generally on the same side, and thefresh air-flow duct outlets and the exhaust air-flow duct inlets arelocated generally on the same side, so that the exhaust air-flow in thespace to be ventilated is discharged into the atmosphere from theexhaust air-flow duct outlet after entering the exhaust air-flow ductinlet and passing through the bend section of the exhaust air-flow duct,and the fresh air-flow from the atmosphere enters into the space to beventilated through the bend section of the fresh air-flow duct afterentering the fresh air-flow duct inlet. The fresh air-flow and theexhaust air-flow may have energy exchange via the fresh air-flow ductsand the exhaust air-flow ducts.

An energy recovery device may be provided, wherein the fresh air-flowframe and the exhaust air-flow frame are hexagons in shape; the freshair-flow frame comprises a first fresh air-flow frame rod, a secondfresh air-flow frame rod, a third fresh air-flow frame rod, a fourthfresh air-flow frame rod, a fifth fresh air-flow frame rod and a sixthfresh air-flow frame; and the exhaust air-flow frame comprises a firstexhaust air-flow frame rod, a second exhaust air-flow frame rod, a thirdexhaust air-flow frame rod, a fourth exhaust air-flow frame rod, a fifthexhaust air-flow frame rod and a sixth exhaust air-flow frame rod;wherein the fresh air-flow duct inlets of the plurality of freshair-flow ducts are provided on the fifth fresh air-flow frame rod of thefresh air-flow frame, the fresh air-flow duct outlets of the pluralityof fresh air-flow ducts are provided on the first fresh air-flow framerod of the fresh air-flow frame, the exhaust air-flow duct inlets of theplurality of exhaust air-flow ducts are provided on the second exhaustair-flow frame rod of the exhaust air-flow frame, and the exhaustair-flow duct outlets of the plurality of exhaust air-flow ducts areprovided on the fourth exhaust air-flow frame rod of the exhaustair-flow frame, so that the flowing direction of the fresh air-flow inthe fresh air-flow ducts is opposite to the flowing direction of theexhaust air-flow in the exhaust air-flow ducts.

An energy recovery device may be provided, wherein each of the pluralityof fresh air-flow ducts and each of the plurality of exhaust air-flowducts are “C-shaped” or “L-shaped”.

An energy recovery device may be provided, wherein each of the pluralityof fresh air-flow ducts has unequal lengths, and they are spaced fromone another unequally.

An energy recovery device may be provided, wherein each of the pluralityof exhaust air-flow ducts has unequal lengths, and they are spaced fromone another unequally.

An energy recovery device may be provided, wherein the plurality offresh air-flow ducts have different inlets and outlets, respectively.

An energy recovery device may be provided, wherein the plurality ofexhaust air-flow ducts have different inlets and outlets, respectively.

An energy recovery device may be provided, wherein the energy recoverydevice further comprises a medium with heat transmissibility andmoisture permeability, which is arranged between the at least twoframes.

An energy recovery device may be provided, wherein the medium with heattransmissibility and moisture permeability arranged between the at leasttwo frames is a membrane and/or paper.

An energy recovery device may be provided, wherein a cover lid is usedfor installing said at least two frames.

An energy recovery device may be provided, wherein the fresh air-flowframe, the exhaust air-flow frame, the fresh air-flow ducts and theexhaust air-flow ducts are all made of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene.

Another illustrative embodiment may include ventilation equipment,wherein said ventilation equipment includes a housing and anabove-mentioned energy recovery device provided therein, with saidhousing includes a fresh air-flow inlet, a fresh air-flow outlet, anexhaust air-flow inlet and an exhaust air-flow outlet, and wherein thefresh air-flow duct inlets of the energy recovery device are in fluidcommunication with the fresh air-flow inlet of said housing, the freshair-flow duct outlets of the energy recovery device are in fluidcommunication with the fresh air-flow outlet of said housing, theexhaust air-flow duct inlets of the energy recovery device are in fluidcommunication with the exhaust air-flow inlet of said housing, and theexhaust air-flow duct outlets of the energy recovery device are in fluidcommunication with the exhaust air-flow outlet of said housing.

Some embodiments may have one or more of the following advantages: whenthe fresh air-flow ducts and exhaust air-flow ducts employ a “C-shaped”configuration or a “L-shaped” configuration, the inlets and outlets canbe located at the same side, allowing either side of the ventilationequipment to have a bypass function, thus increasing the area for totalheat exchanging at every level, and improving a good energy exchangeefficiency.

Some embodiments may have one or more of the following advantages: thefresh air-flow ducts and the exhaust air-flow ducts may include inlets,outlets and “C-shaped” or “L-shaped” bend sections, wherein the“C-shaped” or “L-shaped” bend sections are used for counter-flow heatexchanging, thus making it possible for the six frame rods of the freshair-flow frame and the exhaust air-flow frame to be sealed properlywithout relative movements therebetween.

Some embodiments may have one or more of the following advantages: thefresh air-flow ducts and the exhaust air-flow ducts may employ parallelbent portions, unequal angles and lengths, and unequal inlets andoutlets, thus enabling the energy exchange to be realized by way ofturbulent flows, so as to increase the efficiency of energy exchange.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

With reference to the accompanying drawings, the disclosure of thepresent invention will become readily understandable. It is easy forthose skilled in the art to understand that these accompanying drawingsare intended only for purpose of illustration, and are not intended tolimit the protective scope of the present invention, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of the ventilation equipment with anenergy recovery device according to one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of an energy recovery device accordingto one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 shows a view of one of the frames having a plurality of ducts,for forming the energy recovery device of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 shows a view of another frame having a plurality of ducts, forforming the energy recovery device of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 shows a layout diagram of at least two frames having a pluralityof ducts, for forming the energy recovery device of FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION

The particular embodiments of the present invention are illustrated inFIGS. 1-5 and the following description to teach those skilled in theart how to implement and reproduce the best mode of the presentinvention. For the sake of teaching the inventive principles, someconventional aspects are simplified or omitted. It should be understoodby those skilled in the art that the variants derived from theseembodiments will fall into the protective scope of the presentinvention. It should be also understood by those skilled in the art thatthe features mentioned below can be combined in various ways to form aplurality of variants of the present invention. Accordingly, the presentinvention is not limited by the specific embodiments described below,instead it is defined only by the terms of the claims and theequivalents thereof.

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of the ventilation equipment comprisingan energy recovery apparatus in an embodiment according to the presentinvention. As shown in FIG. 1, the ventilation equipment comprises ahousing, a fresh air-flow outlet 1, a fresh air-flow inlet 3, an exhaustair-flow inlet 5, an exhaust air-flow outlet 7, an energy recoverydevice 9 arranged in the housing; a first separation wall 14 a, a secondseparation wall 14 b, a third separation wall 14 c, a fourth separationwall 14 d and a fifth separation wall 14 e, each of these separationwalls is arranged in the housing. In this case, the housing comprisesthe first side wall 13 a, the second side wall 13 b, the third side wall13 c, and the fourth side wall 13 d, wherein each of these side walls isarranged next to one another in succession. Among them, the freshair-flow outlet 1 and the exhaust air-flow outlet 5 are arranged on thefirst side wall 13 a, and the fresh air-flow inlet 3 and exhaustair-flow outlet 7 are arranged on the third side wall 13 c. The energyrecovery device 9 comprises at least two frames, in which one frame isreferred to as the fresh air-flow frame 15, and the other frame isreferred to as the exhaust air-flow frame 17. A medium with good heatconductivity and moisture permeability (not shown) is disposed betweenthe fresh air-flow frame 15 and the exhaust air-flow frame 17. FIG. 2shows a perspective view of an energy recovery apparatus in anembodiment according to the present invention. FIG. 3 shows a view ofone of the frames with a plurality of ducts, for forming the energyrecovery device in FIG. 2. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the energyrecovery device 9 comprises at least one normal hexagonal shaped freshair-flow frame 15, which comprises a first fresh air-flow frame rod 15a, a second fresh air-flow frame rod 15 b, a third fresh air-flow framerod 15 c, a fourth fresh air-flow frame rod 15 d, a fifth fresh air-flowframe rod 15 e, and a sixth fresh air-flow frame rod 15 f. The freshair-flow frame 15 also comprises a plurality of “C-shaped” freshair-flow ducts 16 which are arranged therein, with each of the freshair-flow ducts 16 comprising a fresh air-flow duct inlet 16 a and afresh air-flow duct outlet 16 b. In which a plurality of fresh air-flowduct inlets 16 a are arranged on the fifth fresh air-flow frame rod 15e, and a plurality of fresh air-flow duct outlets 16 b are arranged onthe first fresh air-flow frame rod 15 a. FIG. 5 shows a layout diagramof at least two frames with a plurality of ducts, for forming the energyrecovery device in FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 5, the energy recoverydevice 9 further comprises at least one normal hexagonal shaped exhaustair-flow frame 17, and FIG. 4 shows a view of the other one of theframes with a plurality of ducts for forming the energy recovery devicein FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 4, the exhaust air-flow frame 17 comprisesthe first exhaust air-flow frame rod 17 a, the second exhaust air-flowframe rod 17 b, the third exhaust air-flow frame rod 17 c, the fourthexhaust air-flow frame rod 17 d, the fifth exhaust air-flow frame rod 17e, and the sixth exhaust air-flow frame rod 17 f, wherein each of theseexhaust air-flow frame rods is arranged next to one another insuccession. The exhaust air-flow frame 17 also comprises a plurality of“C-shaped” exhaust air-flow ducts 18 which are arranged therein, witheach of the exhaust air-flow ducts 18 comprising an exhaust air-flowduct inlet 18 a and an exhaust air-flow duct outlet 18 b. A plurality ofexhaust air-flow duct inlets 18 a are arranged on the second exhaustair-flow frame rod 17 b of the exhaust air-flow duct 18, and a pluralityof exhaust air-flow duct outlet 18 b are arranged on the fourth exhaustair-flow frame rod 17 d. FIG. 5 shows a layout diagram of the at leasttwo frames with a plurality of ducts, for forming the energy recoverydevice in FIG. 2. It can be seen from FIG. 5 that the plurality of“C-shaped” exhaust air-flow ducts 18 arranged on the exhaust air-flowframe 17 and the plurality of “C-shaped” fresh air-flow ducts 16arranged on the fresh air-flow frame 15 are in a mirror imagearrangement. As shown in FIG. 1, the third separation wall 14 c, thefourth separation wall 14 d, the fifth separation wall 14 e, the thirdside wall 13 c, the fourth side wall 13 d and the fresh air-flow inletside of the energy recovery device 9 form a fresh air-flow inlet area.The first separation wall 14 a, the fourth separation wall 14 d, thefirst side wall 13 a, the fourth side wall 13 d and the fresh air-flowoutlet side of the energy recovery device 9 form a fresh air-flow outletarea, in which an air blower 11 is arranged in the fresh air-flow outletarea. The first separation wall 14 a, the second separation wall 14 b,the first side wall 13 a, the second side wall 13 b and the exhaustair-flow inlet side of the energy recovery device 9 form an exhaustair-flow inlet area. The second separation wall 14 b, the thirdseparation wall 14 c, the second side wall 13 b, the third side wall 13c and the fresh air-flow outlet side of the energy recovery device 9form an exhaust air-flow outlet area, in which another air blower 11 isarranged in the exhaust air-flow outlet area.

When the ventilation equipment shown in FIG. 1 is in operation, on theone hand, the exhaust air-flow in the ventilation space enters into theexhaust air-flow inlet area under the effects of the air blower 11arranged in the exhaust air-flow outlet area, then it enters the“C-shaped” exhaust air-flow ducts 18 via the plurality of exhaustair-flow duct inlets 18 a arranged on the exhaust air-flow inlet side ofthe energy recovery device 9, subsequently, it enters from the exhaustair-flow duct outlets 18 b of the “C-shaped” exhaust air-flow ducts 18into the exhaust air-flow outlet area, and finally, it is exhausted intothe atmosphere via the exhaust air-flow outlet 7. On the other hand, thefresh air-flow in the atmosphere is drawn into the fresh air-flow inletarea under the effects of the air blower 11 arranged in the fresh airoutlet area, then it enters into the “C-shaped” fresh air-flow ducts 16via the plurality of fresh air-flow duct inlets 16 a arranged in thefresh air-flow inlet side of the energy recovery device 9, subsequently,it enters from the fresh air-flow duct outlets 16 b of the “C-shaped”fresh air-flow ducts 16 into the fresh air-flow inlet area, and finallyit enters into the space to be ventilated via the fresh air-flow outlet1. Since the fresh air-flow ducts 16 and the exhaust air-flow ducts 18are arranged next to one another in the energy recovery device 9 in amirror image arrangement, this allows the fresh air-flow which haspassed through the “C-shaped” fresh air-flow ducts 16 and the exhaustair-flow which has passed through the “C-shaped” exhaust air-flow ducts18, to have heat exchange in the energy recovery device 9 via a mediumwith heat conductivity and moisture permeability characteristicsarranged between the fresh air-flow frame 15 and the exhaust air-flowframe 17, —so as to enable the fresh air-flow which has had heatexchange with the exhaust air-flow to be pumped into the space to beventilated.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the fresh air-flow frame 15,the exhaust air-flow frame 17, the plurality of fresh air-flow ducts 16and the plurality of exhaust air-flow ducts 18 are preferably made ofacrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene. It needs to be mentioned that the freshair-flow frame 15, the exhaust air-flow frame 17, the plurality of freshair-flow ducts 16 and the plurality of exhaust air-flow ducts 18 canalso be made of other materials, and this would still fall into thescope of the present invention.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the medium with good heatconductivity and moisture permeability characteristics arranged betweenthe fresh air-flow frame 15 and the exhaust air-flow frame 17 is amembrane or a piece of special paper. For those skilled in the art, themembrane and the special paper are the membrane and paper commonly usedin the art, therefore they do not need to be described redundantlyherein.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the fresh air-flow duct 16and the exhaust air-flow duct 18 can also adopt an L-shapedconfiguration. As can be seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, the plurality of freshair-flow ducts 16 and exhaust air-flow ducts 18 respectively have bendsections, different inlets and outlets, different lengths and differentspacing. The “C-shaped” or “L-shaped” configuration is applied in thefresh air-flow ducts 16 and exhaust air-flow ducts 18 in the ventilationequipment according to the present invention, which can allow the inletsand outlets to be placed on the same side, enabling any side of theventilation equipment to have a bypass function, thus increasing thetotal heat exchange area per layer, and improving the energy exchangeefficiency.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the fresh air-flow ducts 16and the exhaust air-flow ducts 18 comprise inlets, outlets, and“C-shaped” or “L-shaped” bend sections, in which the “C-shaped” or“L-shaped” bend sections are used for counter-flow heat exchanging, andthis allows all of the six frame rods of the fresh air-flow frame 15 andthe exhaust air-flow frame 17 to be sealed properly without any movementrelative to one another.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the parallel bend sections(such as “C-shaped” or “L-shaped” bend sections), unequal angles andlengths, and unequal inlets and outlets are adopted in the freshair-flow ducts 16 and the exhaust air-flow ducts 18, enabling the energyexchange to be performed by turbulent flows, thus improving the energyexchange efficiency.

List of names of the components and reference numerals thereof  1 freshair-flow outlet  3 fresh air-flow inlet  5 exhaust air-flow inlet  7exhaust air-flow outlet  9 energy recovery device 11 air blower 13afirst side wall 13b second side wall 13c third side wall 13d fourth sidewall 14a first separation wall 14b second separation wall 14c thirdseparation wall 14d fourth separation wall 14e fifth separation wall 15fresh air-flow frame 15a first fresh air-flow frame rod 15b second freshair-flow frame rod 15c third fresh air-flow frame rod 15d fourth freshair-flow frame rod 15e fifth fresh air-flow frame rod 15f sixth freshair-flow frame rod 16 fresh air-flow duct 16a fresh air-flow duct inlet16b fresh air-flow duct outlet 17 exhaust air-flow frame 17a firstexhaust air-flow frame rod 17b second exhaust air-flow frame rod 17cthird exhaust air-flow frame rod 17d fourth exhaust air-flow frame rod17e fifth exhaust air-flow frame rod 17f sixth exhaust air-flow framerod 18 exhaust air-flow duct 18a exhaust air-flow duct inlet 18b exhaustair-flow duct outlet

1. An energy recovery device, comprising at least two frames which areadjacently arranged, wherein said at least two frames comprise freshair-flow and exhaust air-flow frames, characterized in that the freshair-flow frame comprises fresh air-flow frame rods and a plurality offresh air-flow ducts arranged therein, with each fresh air-flow ducthaving a fresh air-flow duct inlet, a fresh air-flow duct outlet, and abend section of the fresh air-flow duct for connecting them; the exhaustair-flow frame comprises exhaust air-flow frame rods and a plurality ofexhaust air-flow ducts arranged therein, with each exhaust air-flow ducthaving an exhaust air-flow duct inlet, an exhaust air-flow duct outlet,and a bend section of the exhaust air-flow duct for connecting them,wherein the plurality of fresh air-flow ducts and the plurality ofexhaust air-flow ducts are in a mirror image arrangement such that thefresh air-flow duct inlets and exhaust air-flow duct outlets are locatedgenerally on the same side, and the fresh air-flow duct outlets and theexhaust air-flow duct inlets are located generally on the same side, sothat the exhaust air-flow in the space to be ventilated is dischargedinto the atmosphere from the exhaust air-flow duct outlet after enteringthe exhaust air-flow duct inlet and passing through the bend section ofthe exhaust air-flow duct, and the fresh air-flow from the atmosphereenters into the space to be ventilated through the bend section of thefresh air-flow duct after entering the fresh air-flow duct inlet, thefresh air-flow and the exhaust air-flow have energy exchange via thefresh air-flow ducts and the exhaust air-flow ducts.
 2. An energyrecovery device according to claim 1, characterized in that the freshair-flow frame and the exhaust air-flow frame are hexagons in shape; thefresh air-flow frame comprises a first fresh air-flow frame rod, asecond fresh air-flow frame rod, a third fresh air-flow frame rod, afourth fresh air-flow frame rod, a fifth fresh air-flow frame rod and asixth fresh air-flow frame; and the exhaust air-flow frame comprises afirst exhaust air-flow frame rod, a second exhaust air-flow frame rod, athird exhaust air-flow frame rod, a fourth exhaust air-flow frame rod, afifth exhaust air-flow frame rod and a sixth exhaust air-flow frame rod;wherein the fresh air-flow duct inlets of the plurality of freshair-flow ducts are provided on the fifth fresh air-flow frame rod of thefresh air-flow frame, the fresh air-flow duct outlets of the pluralityof fresh air-flow ducts are provided on the first fresh air-flow framerod of the fresh air-flow frame, the exhaust air-flow duct inlets of theplurality of exhaust air-flow ducts are provided on the second exhaustair-flow frame rod of the exhaust air-flow frame, and the exhaustair-flow duct outlets of the plurality of exhaust air-flow ducts areprovided on the fourth exhaust air-flow frame rod of the exhaustair-flow frame, so that the flowing direction of the fresh air-flow inthe fresh air-flow ducts is opposite to the flowing direction of theexhaust air-flow in the exhaust air-flow ducts.
 3. An energy recoverydevice according to claim 1, characterized in that each of the pluralityof fresh air-flow ducts and each of the plurality of exhaust air-flowducts are “C-shaped” or “L-shaped”.
 4. An energy recovery deviceaccording to claim 1, characterized in that each of the plurality offresh air-flow ducts has unequal lengths, and they are spaced from oneanother unequally.
 5. An energy recovery device according to claim 1,characterized in that each of the plurality of exhaust air-flow ductshas unequal lengths, and they are spaced from one another unequally. 6.An energy recovery device according to claim 4, characterized in thatthe plurality of fresh air-flow ducts have different inlets and outlets,respectively.
 7. An energy recovery device according to claim 5,characterized in that the plurality of exhaust air-flow ducts havedifferent inlets and outlets, respectively.
 8. An energy recovery deviceaccording to claim 1, characterized in that the energy recovery devicefurther comprises a medium with heat transmissibility and moisturepermeability, which is arranged between the at least two frames.
 9. Anenergy recovery device according to claim 8, characterized in that themedium with heat transmissibility and moisture permeability arrangedbetween the at least two frames is a membrane and/or paper.
 10. Anenergy recovery device according to claim 1, characterized in that acover lid is used for installing said at least two frames.
 11. An energyrecovery device according to claim 1, characterized in that the freshair-flow frame, the exhaust air-flow frame, the fresh air-flow ducts andthe exhaust air-flow ducts are all made ofacrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene.
 12. A Ventilation equipment,characterized in that said ventilation equipment comprises a housing andan energy recovery device according to claim 1, with said housingcomprising a fresh air-flow inlet, a fresh air-flow outlet, an exhaustair-flow inlet and an exhaust air-flow outlet, wherein the freshair-flow duct inlets of the energy recovery device are in fluidcommunication with the fresh air-flow inlet of said housing, the freshair-flow duct outlets of the energy recovery device are in fluidcommunication with the fresh air-flow outlet of said housing, theexhaust air-flow duct inlets of the energy recovery device are in fluidcommunication with the exhaust air-flow inlet of said housing, and theexhaust air-flow duct outlets of the energy recovery device are in fluidcommunication with the exhaust air-flow outlet of said housing.
 13. Anenergy recovery device, comprising: a first fluid path extending betweena fresh air inlet and a fresh air outlet, and a second fluid pathextending between an exhaust inlet and an exhaust air outlet; andwherein the first flow path and the second flow path direct flow in adirection that is substantially parallel to one another through at leastpart of the energy recovery device.
 14. The energy recovery device ofclaim 13, wherein the first flow path and the second flow path directflow in a direction that is substantially perpendicular to one anotherthrough at least part of the energy recovery device.
 15. The energyrecovery device of claim 13, wherein the first fluid path defines aplurality of channels lying in a plane.
 16. The energy recovery deviceof claim 13, wherein the first fluid path defines a plurality ofchannels lying in two or more parallel spaced planes.
 17. The energyrecovery device of claim 13, wherein the first fluid path defines aplurality of C-shaped or L-shaped channels lying in a plane.
 18. Anenergy recovery device, comprising: a first fluid path extending betweena fresh air inlet and a fresh air outlet, and a second fluid pathextending between an exhaust inlet and an exhaust air outlet; andwherein the first flow path and the second flow path each include a bendin at least part of the energy recovery device, and wherein the firstflow path directs flow in a direction that is at a first angle relativeto fluid flow through the second flow path for a first portion of thefirst flow path, and directs flow in a direction that is at a secondangle relative to fluid flow through the second flow path for a secondportion of the first flow path.
 19. The energy recovery device of claim18, wherein the first fluid path and the second fluid path each define aplurality of C-shaped or L-shaped channels.
 20. The energy recoverydevice of claim 18, wherein the first fluid path defines a plurality ofchannels lying in a plane.